My Day at the DMV

Yes, I would laugh at that sentence too! My 15 year old son was eager to take his written test to attain his driver’s permit and knowing how time consuming that could be; I promptly made an appointment and brought all of his proof of citizenship and identification.

Our appointment was set for 3:00pm. I decided it would be best to arrive early and hopefully be able to finish faster.

Ha!!!

Upon arriving at the front entrance, I saw there was a long line out of the doorway and figured it must be the people who hadn’t made appointments. (stooopid!!) I walked into the building and one of the attendants asked if I had an appointment; I happily responded, “yes”…to which she answered, “then go back outside and get in line.”

HUH? Excuse me? But I have an appointment!!!

I figured why fight it and stood in line with my kids, muttering aloud what good is an appointment if you still have to wait in an overly long (and frankly, the only one I saw) line in the sun. It was funny to see the same reaction with all of the other “appointmentees” who were walking in confidently and being sent back out into the line again…

So, all complaining aside, we were able to be helped soon enough and I figured we were well on our way. Window 20 was our next stop. When it was our turn, the attendant asked where our paperwork was. What paperwork? Nobody gave me any paperwork…I was just told to stand in that freaking line!!

Needless to say, I was given our paperwork and had to step out of line for window #20 to fill it out. I quickly returned to the window and gave the paperwork. The attendant showed me a space where my son was supposed to sign and waived the next person forward…. gaaaaaggghhh….lol

Philip signed the paperwork and we returned to window 20. He then motioned to another page I had missed…OMG…again, was waved out of line and finished the missing information. (he snidely told me, “it’s pretty straightforward”…as I huffed away for the 3rd time to fill in some more info…really?)

Finally we were given a ticketed number and told to wait. One window after another. Fingerprints. Photos. Payments. Vision test. And then finally, the written test secret doorway.

All in all, when he walked out of the secret doorway, it was 2 full hours at the DMV….with an appointment.

The moral of this story is to NEVER EVER EVER go to the DMV without an appointment if you can help it!!! I met some interesting people. Talked with some nice elderly people (and learned from them that after the age of 70; they have to return to take the test every 5 years) I guess it wasn’t all that bad!